Extreme weather-created phenomenon, such as hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, or the like can often cause damage to building structures. Such storm-related damage frequently occurs when high winds and/or debris carried thereby invades the structure through its weakest points, its openings, such as windows or doors. Once invaded, the structure is vulnerable to further damage to the interior thereof, and thus, particularly in geographic areas susceptible to frequent violent weather conditions, it is important to protect the weakest portions of a structure, at least the windows and the doors, with some type of covering.
Most traditionally, home or building owners, if alerted to an oncoming storm, cover these portions of their structures by nailing boards over them. However, this “boarding up” procedure is not only time consuming, when time is usually of the essence, but such can also disfigure the exterior of the structure upon the frequent installation and removal of the boards. Moreover, storing or maintaining an inventory of the boards can take up a great deal of space which would otherwise be usable for other purposes.
As a result, a number of temporarily installable or permanently installed devices have been developed in an attempt to protect these portions of a structure. Some of these devices are in the form of a shutter consisting of a plurality of hinge-connected slats. These shutters can be rolled up and away from the portion of the building being protected by a hand crank or motor. However, these types of devices are not only costly, but also they do not provide for an adequate seal irrespective of whether they are mounted on the windward or leeward side of the structure.
Other alternatives to these shutter-like devices are fabric-based systems. These systems, while less expensive than their counterparts, are often quite large, cumbersome, and difficult to install. Usually, they are attached to an overhang or an eave and must be positioned at a distance in excess of two feet, from the window or door to be protected. They must be specially designed for each such item to be covered, dependent on the nature of the item and its location relative to an overhang or an eave, and they are usually quite large, presenting installation and storage issues.
The need exists, therefore, for a system which will not be plagued by these problems of the prior art.